BlackBerry Bold 9780 review: Business as usual

Itís no surprise that the BlackBerry Bold 9780 is the next logical evolutionary step, rather than a complete makeover that will propel it into the same league as the iPhone and Android. RIM has a loyal core of customers whose bond with the brand goes beyond the obvious business benefits. And devices like the Bold 9780 are certainly part of that bond.

From a geekís perspective, a new generation of gadgets should emerge to a new generation of users. Radical, rebellious, with no sense of history and no respect for authorities. In the world of business, every new generation of gadgets has to make generations of users feel at home.

BlackBerry Bold 9780 press photos

Thereís no moral dilemma for BlackBerry in this. They know trying to introduce new features and UI tweaks with each new generation involves substantial risk for some of the changes to backfire. But they havenít given up on the Torch and the Storm, have they? Though itís obviously much easier to stick to a tested recipe and only add stuff thatís been proved to work.

Main disadvantages:

BlackBerry Internet Service account is a must to enjoy all phone features

Outdated and unintuitive camera interface

No FM radio

No video-call camera

No built-in accelerometer

The BlackBerry Bold 9780 upgrades the Bold 9700 by a 5 megapixel shooter and the new 6th version of the BlackBerry OS. It doesnít sound much and when you consider that the 9700 was already updated to BlackBerrry OS 6 there is even less to choose between the two phones.

BlackBerry Bold 9780 all over

So, will the new Bold 9780 reveal some nice surprises that are invisible to a casual scan of the spec sheet or will it be a mere footnote to the original Bold 9700? We hope to find out when we are done with the review. We start with the unboxing right after the break.